Not a New Service. It appears at first glance to be in the Army Special family, but the serial number is too low for that. Can you post a picture of the top of the frame? If the top of the frame has three flat surfaces with the sight grove in the center of the middle flat, your revolver started out as a WWII produced Commando, and thus would probably have been re-barreled and re-finished. The stocks (grips), smooth trigger and smooth cylinder latch also point to it being a Commando.

 

Welcome to the Forum from mid-Michigan!

 

This has all the indications of being a WWII Colt Commando, which was nothing more then a Colt Official Police made for government use during the war.
The Commando had a parkerized finish and brown plastic grips.
The Commando often had a government inspection stamp on the top-rear of the frame just in front of the hammer, which your gun does have.
During the war pre-war features like a checkered trigger and cylinder release where made smooth to save time.

An original barrel would be stamped with the model name unless it was rebarreled with a very old barrel from the Colt New Army & Navy model of the very early 1900's, which would be stamped ".38 DA".

So, either you have a re-barreled Commando, OR there's at least a chance you could have a super rare Commando with a six in barrel.
The vast majority of Commandos were 4 inch barreled, a few were 2 inch, and there are reports of a VERY few 6 inch.

About the only way to be certain what you have would be to buy a Colt Archive letter, which will give the actual model it is, and any special features it shipped with, along with where it was shipped.

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About the only way to be certain what you have would be to buy a Colt Archive letter, which will give the actual model it is, and any special features it shipped with, along with where it was shipped.

Actually, I‘ll have to disagree here. It won‘t. The Archives letter is “garbage in, garbage out” when it comes to the era of straight numerical serials; many different models have that serial. The serial will come back with a letter to a 1944 Commando if you tell Archives that that’s what it is ( and I think you are correct that the frame is), because there certainly was a Commando produced with that serial number. But the chance that an unmarked 6” barrel will letter as original is minimal.

 

Here is a photo of the top.

I looked at the commando as well. There are no marks on this barrel anywhere. The hammer is checkered and the cylinder release is not.
Thanks for the help!

 

Thanks for the picture . . . a Commando for sure.

 

You are all amazing! So many things to learn! So if a commando issued with a 6" barrel was rare- if it was issued that way would the barrel have been marked? since mine is not marked does that then tell me it has been rebarreled? Are all rebarrels unmarked? (I guess I am getting hung up on this)

On the Colt serial number lookup a 1942 Commando does come up but it does not say barrel length.

From blue book of gun values I see this which does not mention 6" barrels (mine has the plastic grips):

COMMANDO MODEL Add To Collection
.38 Spl. cal., 2 in. (less common), 4 in. (standard) barrel, the majority of wartime issued guns had Coltwood (plastic) grips, checkered walnut is also observed on post-war shipped guns, Parco-Lubrite (parkerized) finish, about 50,000 mfg. 1942-1945, marked "COLT COMMANDO/.38 SPECIAL" on barrel, last patent date on barrel was Oct. 5, 1926, a variety of proofmarks and/or agency markings may be encountered, many thousand shipped in the immediate post-war era to police departments, national parks, etc.

 

So if a commando issued with a 6" barrel was rare- if it was issued that way would the barrel have been marked? since mine is not marked does that then tell me it has been rebarreled? Are all rebarrels unmarked? (I guess I am getting hung up on this)

On the Colt serial number lookup a 1942 Commando does come up but it does not say barrel length.

From blue book of gun values I see this which does not mention 6" barrels (mine has the plastic grips)

The Commando with 6” barrel is a Sasquatch; there are reports of sightings floating around, but to my knowledge and based on the literature, none exist or have been authenticated. The only representation of one, funny enough, is an artist’s rendition on the instruction booklet that came in the Commando box. So the possibility that this gun is original is pretty much zero.

The Colt look-up is irrelevant here because it doesn’t look up individual guns, just serial ranges. It’s also wrong in the Commando range; your gun is from early 1944 if it is a Commando frame.

I would also eliminate any chance that this is a factory re-barrel due to the missing markings. I think this is most likely a private project or some gunsmith’s work post-war.

 

Correct war stocks appear to be made from Bakelite, just like many of the 1911A1 stocks. Post war was the plastic era of Coltwood which were more susceptible to warping or shrinking.

 

Others may correct me here, but the shape of the barrel where it meets the frame does not have the shoulder or bolstered contour of a Commando barrel. It looks more like it may have been an Official Police Heavy Barrel that has has the marking polished off and put on your Commando frame. The ejector rod tip has also been changed.

 

Yes the front of the barrel is scrubbed- there is not evidence of a mark I can see, even with a 20x loupe. I could not match the front sight to any Colt's- does that help any of you identify the barrel?

 

Probably a pre-war shaped rounded sight that someone took a file to to reshape it.

 

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Welcome to the COLT Forum from the Cradle Of Liberty...Pennsylvania !!

Enjoy Our Community kds70...and Congrats on your mysterious acquisition !!

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